Hotspots where home buyers will get more – or less – floor space for their money
The sum of £200 would get home buyers in Westminster the equivalent of just a quarter of a sheet of A4 paper in floor space, while in Burnley in Lancashire this amount would stretch to more than two full sheets typically, according to analysis by a property website.
Zoopla carried out the analysis to underline to home buyers just how much space they can typically expect to get for their money in different locations.
Buyers in Westminster would have to pay £837 typically for floor space equivalent to one sheet of A4, or £686 in Kensington and Chelsea, and £665 in Camden, the website found.
Away from southern England, home buyers in major cities including Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Newcastle and Cardiff could buy a full sheet of A4-sized floor space for £200.
And £200 could get buyers at least two full sheets of A4 floor space in locations including Hull, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Blaenau Gwent and Sunderland, according to the calculations.
Looking at Scotland, in Edinburgh the average A4-sized floor space costs £204.
And in Yorkshire, an A4-sized floor space in York will set buyers back around £209 typically.
Zoopla has a tool which allows buyers to set a minimum square footage alongside their price range.
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “Our analysis shows that the gap between what £200 gets you in Westminster versus what it buys in the North West is not just a number – it is the difference between a sliver of a page and two full sheets of paper.
“That is the true scale of Britain’s housing divide, and it is something every buyer and homeowner should understand as they plan their next move.”
Here are the most and least affordable locations in nations and regions, according to Zoopla, with the average cost of an A4-sized floorspace:
East Midlands
Most affordable: Boston, £115
Least affordable: South Northamptonshire, £206
Eastern England
Most affordable: Fenland, £138
Least affordable: St Albans, £351
London
Most affordable: Barking and Dagenham, £273
Least affordable: Westminster, £837
North East
Most affordable: Sunderland, £83
Least affordable: Northumberland, £134
North West
Most affordable: Burnley, £80
Least affordable: Trafford, £212
Scotland
Most affordable: Argyll and Bute, £74
Least affordable: Edinburgh, £204
South East
Most affordable: Portsmouth, £171
Least affordable: Elmbridge, £363
South West
Most affordable: Plymouth, £133
Least affordable: Christchurch, £243
Wales
Most affordable: Blaenau Gwent, £84
Least affordable: Monmouthshire, £179
West Midlands
Most affordable: Stoke-on-Trent, £104
Least affordable: Warwick, £213
Yorkshire and the Humber
Most affordable: North East Lincolnshire, £90
Least affordable: York, £209
